Get in loser, we’re going shopping! At screenings of Taylor Swift’s new The Eras Tour concert film, some fans have been treated to a rather fetch surprise – a secret airing of the trailer for a new Mean Girls film, which is set to come out the same year the original cult teen classic celebrates its 20th birthday.
This isn’t your regular reboot; instead, it’s a film adaptation of the Tony-winning Broadway show Mean Girls: The Musical, also written by Tina Fey, and set to come to London’s West End next year.
A film version of the stage musical has been in the works since at least 2020, but this is our first real visual preview of what’s in store fot the big screen adaptation.
The trailer also confirms a US release date of January 24, 2024, and shows the cast in action for the first time.
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So far, the trailer is yet to make its way online, but fortunately a handful of enterprising Swifties managed to catch it playing out in cinemas. “You’re here for the musical event of the year,” it teases, before Reneé Rapp introduces herself as the brilliantly villainous Regina George, head of The Plastics at North Shore High School. Rapp previously played George during Mean Girls’ Broadway run.
All manner of iconic Mean Girls moments – from the infamous burn book and its Christmas talent show performance, to Janis Ian’s legendary purple prom tux – make appearances in the short trailer for the new film, directed by Arturo Perez and Samantha Jayne, and screenwritten once again by Tina Fey.
Australian actor Angourie Rice, who plays Betty Brant in multiple Marvel Spiderman films, will star as Cady Heron. Originally played by Lindsey Lohan in the original 2004 film, Cady arrives at North Shore as a sheltered new student, and has to quickly adapt to the cliques of the school corridors after years of home schooling.
Though she initially befriends Janis and Damian (played by AuliÊ»i Cravalho and Jaquel Spivey in the new musical film) Cady soon abandons them for The Plastics, a gang of popular girls. As well as their leader Regina George (Rapp), the group contains Gretchen Weiners (Bebe Wood) and Karen Smith (Avantika Vandanapu). But when Regina betrays Cady in epic fashion, she reunites with her old pals to wreak glorious revenge. It’s a total classic.
Elsewhere, Christopher Briney plays Cady’s love interest Aaron Samuels, while Tina Fey and Tim Meadows reprise their roles from the original 2004 film to play Ms Norbury and Principal Duvall. Jenna Fischer, Busy Philipps, Mahi Alam, Connor Ratliff and Jon Hamm complete the cast.
Eagle-eyed fans also spotted Ashley Park during the trailer. Park initially rose to fame after bagging a Tony-nomination for her portrayal of Gretchen Weiner in the Broadway production of Mean Girls: The Musical, and has gone onto appear in Crazy Rich Asians, Only Murders in the Building, and Joy Ride. With Gretchen already cast, it’s not yet clear who she’ll be playing – Entertainment Tonight reports that her role will be a cameo.
